Residents blast proposed energy rate hikes

ESCONDIDO -- Though no members of the California Public
Utilities Commission were there to hear them Tuesday night,
bitterly angry San Diego Gas & Electric Co. customers blasted a
proposed rate hike designed to raise $915 million during a meeting
at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.

The PUC scheduled the public hearing hoping to hear residents'
ideas about how that $915 million should be paid by customers;
instead, dozens of North County residents blasted the idea of rate
hikes when many said they could barely get by on the current high
cost of energy.

"They're telling us to cut back?" asked Pauma Valley rancher
Bill Hutchings, speaking to the administrative law judge who
conducted the meeting. "If it wasn't so tragic, it'd be a joke.
What do these people think we've been doing for the last 10 to 15
years?"

Hutchings said one month's recent utility bill at his farm was
$36,000. "These people do not understand farming. … How do they
think we can keep paying these bills and stay in business?"

Several residents who rose to speak characterized as criminal
the actions of power companies who collected record profits as
energy costs skyrocketed.

Tinker Mills of Encinitas said: "We're being blackmailed. I
thought that was against the law."

Monica Kovacs targeted the chief executive officer of
Houston-based energy giant Enron in particular. "We need to make
Mr. Kenneth Lay pay back the $915 million he stole from us."

Noting President Bush's declaration of a state of emergency in
his flooded home state of Texas, Kovacs said, "(Carl) Wood and the
other PUC commissioners need to declare a deregulation disaster for
the people of California."

The meeting was scheduled to get reaction to a plan the PUC is
considering for SDG&E's customers, similar to one it already
approved in May for customers of the state's investor-owned
utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California
Edison. The plan ties rate increases to the amount of energy
consumed by customers, using a five-tiered system designed to
promote energy conservation and punish those who use the most
energy.

Under the plan, residential and small-business customers' bills
would rise by an average of 18.34 percent, SDG&E told customers
in a recent mailing. An SDG&E spokesman estimated that 50
percent to 60 percent of all residential customers would be exempt
from rate increases altogether, shifting the cost of paying for the
rate increase onto the bills of those customers who use the most
energy.

The proposed rate hike, all but certain to hit SDG&E
customers by August, would raise the $915 million to pay for power
purchased by the state's Department of Water Resources for the
three cash-strapped utilities. Since the state began buying power
in January, the governor's power buyers have spent $8 billion,
exhausting an expected budget surplus.

The average residential customer of SDG&E uses 500 kilowatt
hours per month, paying a bill of $75.50. Under the proposed rate
hike, consumers who use 130 percent or less of their "baseline
allowance" would see no increase. However, consumers who use 300
percent or more of their baseline allowance could see a 37 percent
increase in rates.

A decision is expected by the end of the month in order to
implement the rate hike and five-tiered system by July 1.

The PUC encouraged those who were not able to attend the
hearings to mail their comments before Monday to the Public
Advisor, 320 W. Fourth St., Suite 500, Los Angeles, CA 90013, or
e-mail them to public.advisor.la@cpuc.ca.gov.